


Citadel Shore Leave : Redux

by Europolarist



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-07-18 22:05:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7332394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Europolarist/pseuds/Europolarist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My contribution to this year's Mass Effect Big Bang. </p><p>What would happen if Shepard's team realized Brooks was a liar from the very first moments?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Citadel Shore Leave : Redux

**Author's Note:**

> A BIG HUGE thank you to my beta, Emily, and her sister for going through and doing your thing!
> 
> Also, a BIG HUGE thank you to my artist, Bri, (continuousspectrum) who pinch hitted for my original artist.
> 
> All your work is extremely appreciated!

Chapter 1

“Where’s my shuttle?” Sophie shouted into her comm. as a flurry of gunfire exploded overhead.

“I sent Joker on ahead to pick up Brooks,” Liara replied, shouting to her as they both slipped under cover on opposing sides of the car dealership. “Cortez will be bringing the second shuttle momentarily.”

Sophie, peeking her head around the advertisement column, shot at the incoming mercenary with the unfamiliar pistol in her hand. When a short break in the firefight happened, Sophie glanced over at the back of Liara’s head with a frown. 

She’d spent the last hour fighting through the abandoned corridors of after-hour shops and had used her Spectre authority to break through a C-Sec quarantine. Just now she learned that Liara undermined her orders, sending her ship pilot to collect the Analyst instead of getting more of her squad members.

Something was wrong. Liara had never done something so brazen before; but Sophie knew better than to voice her concerns in the middle of a firefight.

Gunfire continued to fill the air for a few more minutes as Sophie, along with Liara and Wrex, took out as many of the mercenaries as possible.

“I’m at the rendezvous,” Steve announced over the channel.

She glanced over her shoulder at the car lot to see an Alliance shuttle hovering just a few feet above the glass and steel landing zone.

“Let’s get out of here,” Sophie ordered, waving her arms in order to get her krogan and asari companions to follow her quickly.

She couldn’t see many of mercenaries left, bodies littered the shop floor; but there were enough men still fighting that Sophie wanted just to get out of the shop to regroup rather than dealing with her attackers. Besides, she was running low on ammo.

When Wrex and Liara were safely inside the vehicle Sophie followed them into the shuttle, sliding the door shut behind her harder than she’d expected.

“Let’s get going,” she said, sticking her head into the cockpit to speak to Cortez. “We have to figure out who’s after me.”

Sophie settled into one of the free seats in the shuttle and straightened the material of her dress. She couldn’t believe she’d been in a fire fight in this knee length piece. The last time she’d been in a knock out drag out firefight in civvies had been during N7 training.

That would teach her to dress up the next time one of her crew invited her out for a fancy meal, even if the flowing teal skirt had wrapped around her quite nicely. Next time she’d wear full armor, even if it was a sea-side resort on Earth in three years after recovery had begun. She would not go out without back-up again, no Sir.

Realizing the shuttle was quiet, Sophie looked up to see Liara cutting her eyes at their krogan teammate. Though she wasn’t the target, Sophie could feel the asari’s eyes almost burning holes in the back of his head as Liara squinted at the large battlemaster.

“Well? What is it?” 

The look that the asari gave her caused Sophie to glance down at her ‘tool. Ensuring that it wasn’t on voice-operated protocol, not wanting anyone that might be listening in a chance to hear, Sophie indicated that Liara could speak freely.

“We’ve had a security breech, and I’m not sure how you’d like me to handle it.”

Wrex growled lowly, clearly as upset about the news as she felt, though he seemed merely to be agreeing with Liara’s uncertainty rather than being shocked at the announcement itself.

“I had Traynor tracking the comms as soon as Joker notified us of Brooks’ warning. She traced the signal through multiple towers and buoys while we tried to locate you. Someone hacked your system, she was right about that.”

“And?”

“We think Brooks is a double agent.”

Sophie drew herself up. She had felt something was off about the Staff Analyst the moment the Alliance officer appeared at the table. 

The entire situation felt like a setup. It was part of the reason why she’d sent Joker to get the crew assembled; it wasn’t so much as putting him up as bait, but more about keeping her pilot safe and getting her soldiers prepped.

“How can you be sure?”

“After Nyxeris, I don’t have a single conversation without triggering tracing programs. My ship may be gone but my network is still alive and well.”

Sophie nodded toward her asari friend. It was a little scary how quickly she’d adapted to using the Shadow Broker’s tech and contacts, and how well she manipulated them. For a moment Sophie wondered just how many of her conversations had been recorded, but she dropped that line of thought for now.

“And this thing with Brooks?”

“I found a signal being imbedded into your comms that was being bounced off Brooks. At first I thought maybe whomever hacked your systems were boosting the signal through her; but while we were fighting I got confirmation from Feron. All of the frequencies she was using to talk to you were being duplicated, then jumped through multiple buoys and sent to an off-station location. Brooks is the leak.”

Sophie cleared her throat and looked around the shuttle, her thoughts racing.

“You use what contacts you can to track down who she really is,” Sophie ordered. 

“Maybe place Traynor in charge of the investigation temporarily, I think she was still supposed to be on the ship tonight helping with maintenance and repairs. The woman is smart and she can continue the search while you help me with the diversion,” Sophie said. “This does not leave the shuttle. Whatever goes down out there with Brooks, we play along until we get some answers.”

“Of course,” Liara said. “I’ve already deployed a few teams into action.”

“Wrex, Cortez, I mean you two as well. Not a word to another soul while we figure out what her game is.”

“Of course, Shepard,” Wrex said, his gloved hands rubbing over his thighs. She could feel him preparing for battle across the small space between them; the familiar battle lust that washed over her friend every time they faced a foe filling the air as clearly as a flashbang grenade.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Commander,” Cortez announced from the front of the shuttle.

“I’m serious, Lieutenant. Not even Vega.”

“I’m hurt, Commander,” he said, steering them through the wards. 

“I know you guys are close, but not a word.”

“You can trust me.”

“I’d like to keep you hidden away as well, Cortez,” she continued. “For tonight, you do not exist. Return the shuttle to the Normandy; put those of the crew still onboard on alert. If things escalate we may need to hightail it out of here. I won’t put my ship and her crew under any unnecessary risks. Hell, this woman could be working with the batarians for all we know.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Sophie turned her attention back to Liara.

“We need to be careful about researching Brooks.”

“I can remotely access my system with my omnitool,” Liara said. 

“Don’t do anything while Brooks is near if you can help it. I’d like to keep whoever joins us in the apartment in the dark until such time arises as you can safely bring them into the conspiracy. Even EDI, for now. The more whispering we do, the worse it will be.”

Liara nodded.

“Thank you for being so quick to catch this,” she said, smiling at one of her closest friends. “I’ll need to make sure to have the Alliance give you a kickback or something.”

Liara smiled.

“I put the rest of this task into your hands while we get this figured out. I’ll do my best to run interference.”

They arrived at Tiberious Towers a few minutes later, Wrex helping her climb out of the shuttle.

The shore party along with Brooks was already gathered in the living room of the apartment. When they saw her, many of them sighed in relief. She noticed Vega leaning against the brick wall of the dual-faced fireplace and gave him a smile, ignoring the serious look on his face.

“Glad you made it out of there alive, Shepard,” Garrus said, a trill of joy in his voice.

Sophie turned to look at the turian walking toward her from the kitchen. The tall alien was one of only a handful of people that she could call family, at least since Mindoir had taken away all semblance of normality from her. Garrus, Wrex, and Liara had stepped up. 

For a moment she frowned, missing Ashley. Of course, as a newly inducted Spectre she was out on her own missions; but the young Lieutenant Commander was as close to a little sister as Sophie had ever gotten.

“It’ll take more than a few mercenaries to take me down,” she grinned.

“But you only needed a couple of bullets to take down an entire restaurant.”

“Don’t be a jerk.”

Sophie chuckled; rolling her eyes at Garrus as Brooks came walking over to her looking nervously around the room.

Sophie properly introduced Brooks to the rest of the team. 

Though normally she would have been glad that they all eagerly welcomed Brooks into the fold, the fact that Brooks was a liar made the hair on the back of Sophie’s neck bristle. 

How easy it was for her team to be infiltrated, she thought. If Liara hadn’t been on top of things, what could have happened? They still knew nothing about Brooks, but at least now she could be alert.

Within a few minutes the team had been split into smaller groups to research what they could find on the mercenaries that had attacked. Sophie assigned Liara to work with Brooks working to discover the gun’s origins, thinking it would be better to allow Liara to watch over the analyst. At least Liara would catch any contradicting actions Books might take. 

Garrus and Tali were working on data that Brooks had provided. Joker and EDI looked at maps of the Citadel to track down possible home bases that this mysterious group of mercenaries might be using. 

At least they had the gun as a starting point; there was little else to go on.

Seeing James messing with his omni-tool in the living room, Sophie dropped in beside him on the couch. Though she was unaccustomed to wearing dresses, at least over the last few years, she still ran her hands along her backside to make sure the material didn’t scrunch up under her.

“What’cha up to?” she asked, wanting to distract herself for a bit.

“Ordering pizza. Your interrupted date with Joker interrupted my dinner as well.”

Sophie snorted at the look he gave her, filled with both annoyance.

“So sorry my attempted assassination got in the way of your dinner date,” she said,.

“No date,” he said, quickly. “Cortez and I were watching a biotiball game at This One’s Grille and Sports Bar eating what they were passing off as buffalo wings and greasy fries.”

“Ahh,” she said, shifting on the cushion to get a better look at James. “How’d the game end?”

“I haven’t got a clue.” He flushed and silence descended on them.

“If it makes you feel any better, we were set up,” she said, keeping the details as vague as possible. “Just before the mercenaries attacked, Jeff and I determined that we’d thought the other had made the reservations for dinner.”

“So it was a trap from the beginning.”

Sophie nodded, a silence coming between them again. 

“I should have known better, Joker’d never invite me to a fancy place like that. He seems more like a noodle cart or pizza stand type of guy.”

“You were hoping for a date with him?”

Sophie watched a flurry of emotions wash over James’ features, though she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was bothering the Lieutenant. His words were short and clipped, though he tried to remain relaxed by leaning into the back of the couch.

“Nah, Joker’s like an annoying little brother,” she said. She then leaned closer, balancing herself by putting a hand on his knee and whispering as if she were about to reveal a big secret. “Besides, he’s got the hots for EDI.”

James, almost blushing, glanced over at the Pilot hanging out near the kitchen.

“I thought that was just a joke.”

“Not at all,” Sophie shrugged. “Besides, he loved that ship well before an AI was installed into the systems. At least now there’s someone to talk back to him.”

James gave her a look that spoke of disapproval.

“Sometimes you are the worst commanding officer.”

Sophie grinned, then realized her hand was still on his knee and pulled it away slowly. She didn’t want him thinking that she didn’t want to touch him, because Lord knew she did; but they were not in a position at this time to act on any flirting they might be doing. Besides, someone was hunting her and that someone had an agent in their midst. The last thing she needed was for Brooks to find out just how much Vega meant to her, unrequited love and all.

He cleared his throat and reached out for her arm.

“I’d say your dress is probably ruined,” he said pointing to a large tear in the sleeve.

Sophie glanced at it, feel the warmth of his hand as he toyed with the shredded cloth.

“At least it’s a modest tear. It could have been a lot worse.”

“Or better,” he said, waggling his eyesbrows at her. “ A slit in the skirt would do wonders to distract your attackers.”

“They’d be standing around in awe rather than shooting me, I’m sure.”

Sophie rolled her eyes.

Standing up, she placed a hand on his shoulder. She knew she needed to check on the others while they hunted down information about the mercenaries.

“Make sure you get extra pepperoni when you put in your order,” she said a moment later, deciding it was better to leave than to make the moment awkward. “It’s my favorite and I’m starving.”

James glanced down at the offending hand and Sophie quickly pulled it away, feeling a blush rise on her cheeks.

“There are so many inappropriate things I could say right now,” he grinned.

The flush spread down to her chest, bare due to the low cut of the summer dress. She was glad, however, that she’d put running shorts on underneath. All that air moving around under the cloth really bothered her. And in the case of a firefight, was just plain dangerous. She doubted the running shorts would have done anything to distract the mercenaries.

“You win this round, Vega. You’ve made me blush,” she smiled, trying to remain nonchalant in face of the teasing. If she didn’t get away from him, the game would be up and she’d lose face in front of the one soldier she might truly care about.

James rubbed the back of his neck and Sophie felt a frisson of pride at the fact that she’d stumped him.

“Shepard?” Liara called out from the kitchenette where she and Brooks were working to track down the origin of the pistol.

Sophie let her hand linger over Vega’s shoulder for a quick moment, reveling in the scent of military-issued soap mixed with that scent that was purely him, then gave James a sly grin before heading toward the kitchen. She might be Special Forces trained, but keeping her team out of the loop sent shudders of worry through her gut. She was almost positive that she would make some sort of fatal error while they were trying to dig up dirt on the young analyst.

Walking over to Brooks, who tinkered with a data pad the asari had given her, Sophie waved the analyst over toward the table where Liara worked.

“I’m going to have to write a report about getting shot. I hear those are really complicated,” Brooks said as Sophie stopped near the table, another nervous flutter tinting the woman’s voice.

“It’s faster if you make a template,” Sophie said, a lame attempt at a joke.

“I think maybe you get shot too much.”

Sophie shrugged. 

“It comes with the territory,” she said. “I’m a N-school graduate and a Spectre. We’re always dodging bullets, both literally and figuratively.”

She wanted to boast, to show this woman that it was a mistake to mess with her and her team; but without calling her out specifically on what little information they had at this point, Sophie had nothing more to say that wouldn’t just spoil the ruse.

“Whenever you’re ready, Commander,” Liara said, looking up from the data she was reviewing.

Sophie nodded and called out for everyone to join them at the table for a sitrep.

Liara worked through what she’d found on the gun and the crew discussed the merits of going to the Casino’s charity event. Sophie was aware just how much manipulation was being attempted by the small soldier they’d acquired and was truly nervous about bringing her along; but no one else seemed concerned, so she had little choice.

Brooks had set herself up as the perfect person to crawl through the shafts to get into the panic room. It was probably the worst thing they could do; if Brooks was who Liara thought she was Khan would likely be killed before the panic room became accessible by herself and the rest of the team. But, the more she thought about it, he’d probably be dead whether Brooks was allowed to crawl through the air vents or not. 

It was clear that whoever was after Sophie had more than enough money to find another way to kill Khan is they kept Brooks from being able to interfere.

Sophie was impressed though, the woman looked absolutely terrified about being the person on point in this mission.

“If that’s settled, it looks like there’s one last hurdle to get us inside,” Liara said, once it was determined that Sophie and Brooks at least would be going.

“Which is?”

“Black tie required.”

Sophie groaned. 

“Help me find something to wear, Liara?” she asked. “I’m not even sure what I’ve got upstairs.”

“Sure, Shepard,” the asari said with a smile.

“What about me?”

LIara looked past Sophie at Brooks. 

“Glyph, please help Analyst Brooks order something appropriate. And please, ensure that it comes out of my accounts. I wouldn’t want to put the young Analyst out in any manner.”

“Of course, Dr. T’soni.”

The VI interface directed Brooks to the terminal in the office nearby.

“Shepard, who else will be going with you to the event? They will need to be properly attired as well.”

Sophie looked around the room, glancing at the crew members gathered around the room. All watching her to some extent, some clearly interested in going, others looking nervously around, as if they were afraid of not being chosen for a gym class game of biotiball as a pre-teen.

She wanted desperately to pick James to go with her to the casino. She should take him, because he was a heavy hitter if things went south (and they usually did), and she couldn’t help but wonder what he’d look like dressed in a civilian suit. Besides, he’d at least make the mission entertaining if the party ended up being a complete dud.

But there was no way to bring him in on the real objective of the mission without making Brooks suspicious, so instead, Sophie asked her krogan brother to be her date. At least Wrex knew the score, though either man had their merits for being distractions. 

“Alright, Wrex,” she said, tearing her eyes away from James. “How do you feel about working on your political maneuvering?”

“I get enough of that on Tuchanka,” he groused. “But if you need me, I’ll be there.”

“Good,” she said, giving him a nod.

Her eyes caught with James’ for a moment before everyone dispersed and she could see the disappointment written on his face. 

She swallowed back the regret she felt at not asking the young officer to accompany her. Sophie knew that if she did, she might forget all regulations and try to make a move on him. Sophie could not allow that to happen.

The squad needed to be on their game tonight, and in civilian clothing he would be nothing but a sexy distraction.

Sophie hadn’t spent much time with James outside of the Normandy since he’d been her guard in Vancouver. They’d grown close in those long months, at least as close as guard and prisoner could be, and she missed that connection despite how it had originally formed. Things between them had been strained since she’d taken up the mantle of Commander once more and no matter what she did, it seemed that connection had been severed.

Clearing her throat, Sophie tore her eyes away from James and waved at Liara to come with her.

“Keep doing what you can to find out more about our buyer,” she said over her shoulder to the rest of the team.

The rest of the squad members dispersed and Sophie led the way up to the bedroom with Liara in tow.

“I’d like for you and the rest of the team to keep an eye on our progress through the terminal,” she said walking into the closet. “See if you can get Tali or Glyph to help.”

“Ideally I’d like to tag Brooks with a tracker, but I’m not sure how to do that with the low tech requirement,” Liara said.

“Is there something you could place on her comm unit?” 

“Maybe, but I’d need to get Brooks to give me access to the hardwiring. She’s not likely to do that.”

“See what you can do,” Sophie said, sorting through the clothes in her closet. “But don’t be pushy.”

“Shepard,” Liara said. “I can be unassuming and subtle when I need to be.”

The tone in the asari’s voice was almost demeaning, but Sophie looked over her shoulder to see a wide grin on her face.

Chapter 2

A couple hours later Sophie found herself walking into the casino on Wrex’s elbow. Liara had found an old gown in the back of the closet, one she’d worn to a military ball. Sophie wasn’t even sure how it had gotten there, but she remembered wearing the deep blue gown around the time of her mission on Akuze. 

With an asymmetrical neckline, one shoulder covered in crysatals, the gown hugged her form. 

She’d laughed when she looked at herself in the mirror, here was the slit in the dress that James had been asking about.

Though, her covered leg was sporting a pistol holster hidden under the material.

At least Liara had not gone overboard on her hair, Sophie thought. With the crown of her head featuring a full braid reminiscent of James’ Mohawk, and the rest of her hair down, at least it would be out of the way if she found herself in another firefight.

“I look ridiculous,” Wrex grumbled. 

“You and me both,” Sophie muttered under her breath.

Brooks sauntered awkwardly beside them as if she’d never worn heels before. The entire ruse made Sophie cringe; every female soldier had a pair of heels to wear during official events. It’s like they, whomever they were, didn’t even bother to do research.

When Sophie and Wrex entered the building, Brooks split off from the team to see about accessing the airshaft while Wrex continued to lead her through the throngs of supporters.

Struggling not to roll her eyes at the display that Brooks was putting on, Sophie followed Wrex deeper into the casino.

“A drink, Shepard?” he asked, bringing them to a stop at the bar. “Some Ryncol, perhaps?”

Sophie snorted, looking around the casino and taking stock of the room, looking for exits and noting where the gaming tables were set up. A few booths lined the back of the room where people, asari and humans mostly, were talking and enjoying the cocktails and appetizers set out. 

She turned her attention back to Wrex, thinking about what he’d said. She’d tried the infernal drink once, just once, and nearly puked her brains out.

“Not tonight, Wrex,” she said. “Maybe if I need to put myself into a coma.”

“The night’s still young.”

“A water please,” she said to the waiting bartender.

She wasn’t sure how he managed it, but Wrex managed to move his faceplate at her in what must have been an attempt to mimic the human practice of waggling eyebrows.

“You’re a mess.”

“And you love me for it.”

“Like an annoying older brother.”

“You hurt my redundant hearts,” he said, his hand moving over where she guessed his hearts were.

“Shepard,” Liara said through her earpiece, cutting off their banter. “You might want to mingle with the other guests if you want to look normal.”

Normal?

Sophie scoffed and glanced at Wrex. 

Since when had she been normal?

“Sorry, big guy, you’re just not my type tonight,” Sophie picked up her glass and walked away from the bar, leaving Wrex laughing as she looked to find someone else to talk to.

“Commander,” Brooks whispered a few minutes later just as Sophie spotted Sha’ira sitting at a booth near a staircase. “I’m upstairs by the grate leading to the shaft. But there’s a problem. Can you meet me?”

Sophie cleared her throat and smiled at a nearby guard, taking a detour and heading for the stairwell she’d seen.

She climbed the stairs, doing her best to make anyone watching her think that she was admiring the sculptures displayed in front of a waterfall niche and the art on the walls.

When Sophie spotted Analyst Brooks in a corner near the dance floor, Sophie sighed. The woman was doing a great job of looking incompetent. She really hoped that Liara and their combined teams could find out where the woman came from before Mr. Khan was murdered.

“Just like we thought,” Brooks said as Sophie sauntered up to her. “There’s an alarm on the grate. We’ll have to bypass it.”

“Commander,” Liara said over the comms. “I’ve had Glyph add a program into your omnitool that should activate your cybernetics. It should allow you to see the security grids and wiring. If you wait a few moments the software should patch through.”

“Good. I’ll follow the wiring to a junction box, splice it, and disable the alarm,” Sophie said, feeling her heart jumping in her chest. 

The next few minutes passed quickly as Sophie trailed the wiring to a junction box and not only had to hack into the system to turn off the alarm, but also turn off the camera that was guarding the box beforehand. Her nerves were beginning to fray under all the pressure, though she’d never admit it to anyone. She never liked tech and the fact that Brooks was running loose did not sit well.

Once Brooks was in the airshaft, Sophie grabbed a drink from the bartender and went on a walk past the privileged Citadel guests. She’d intended on doing as Liara asked, but when she overheard some of the asari talking about how much the poor humans had endured she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her mouth shut in the face of their privileged bigotry and continued on without stopping.

She wished she could find out what was going on back at the apartment; see if they’d learned anything about the agent. Unfortunately, Sophie needed to continue on with the game.

Spotting Wrex at one of the Varren Racing tables, she tipped her glass to the old krogan who gave her a wicked grin before turning back to his gambling.

Sophie took up a position at one of the gaming consoles, betting as low as possible and not wanting to lose war funds while she tried to play spy. Granted, she was using her own personal account tonight, but with her pay coming directly from the Alliance Sophie couldn’t find it within herself to justify big spending. Tonight though, she managed to spend a few minutes losing and then winning and then losing again at Quasar.

“Commander,” Brooks whispered, cutting in just over the din of the revelers. “There’s a guard right below me.”

“Don’t panic,” Sophie replied, taking what she hoped to be a casual look about the room. “I’ll get his attention.”

The next few minutes sent her heart racing with adrenaline as Sophie finally spotted the guard that Brooks had been referring too. She engaged the guard in conversation before directing him to the bathroom with a lie about red sand. Once he was headed toward the bathrooms Sophie gave the all clear and waited as Brooks made her way toward the safe room. It had been ages since she’d played this espionage game, and Sophie was beginning to remember why she hated it. Give her a heads-on fight over this crap any day.

She’d lost track of Wrex when Brooks had summoned her. Once she’d helped the ‘analyst’, instead of looking for the krogan Sophie headed toward Sha’ira, the familiar asari standing out amongst the judgmental high rollers milling about.

“Do you have any advice for me now?” she asked after reacquainting herself with the asari oracle.

“Win,” the woman said, glancing over at her before crossing her legs and returning her attention to the others sitting at her table.

“Um,” Brooks said, her voice coming through the comm.

Sophie wished the asari a good day and walked off toward the varren racing tables, trying to look nonchalant as Brooks continued.

“I’ve got a pressure pad and an obstruction detector ahead. I can’t disable them from here.”

“Okay. EDI, I need a tech solution. Brooks, stay put. We’ll find some junctions and take down the sensors.”

A few minutes passed as Sophie tracked down the junction boxes. Though she hadn’t been paying an alarming amount of attention to her surroundings, Sophie was mildly worried that she hadn’t spotted Wrex in a while.

Brooks came through the comm again after Sophie had let her through the trapped area.

“I’m at the storage room grate. Time to hit the lock.”

Knowing she needed to say something to reassure Brooks, Sophie told the woman to be careful. 

Brooks cursed as Sophie heard the grating move through her earpiece.

“What happened?”

“Infrared laser hooked up to a silent alarm. I didn’t get it in time!”

“Shepard, I’ll call the responding guard to say it was a false alarm, but you must stall him before he reaches Brooks.”

She cursed under her breath. This is exactly why she’d brought the krogan warlord. He could have at least acted drunk and blocked the guard’s advance. Instead she was stuck needing to come up with an excuse for calling out to the guard rather than letting the krogan cause trouble.

Sophie glanced around the room, looking for an intent looking guard. When she spotted the man walking across the casino floor, Sophie shouted.

“Hey!”

“Just calm down. I’m trying to do three different things here,” the guard said, turning to face her.

She took a step back as the man activated his omnitool and spoke with his companions over the radio. The man was angry and she relished the fact that it at least the distraction seemed to be working.

“I’m sorry, did you need something?”

Sophie played up the dumb woman card. 

“I’m sorry. Are you with security? I thought you were a friend of mine. You’ve got the same…” she looked him up and down, trying to figure something out to say.

“Suit.”

“You,” he started angrily, then paused. “Enjoy your evening.”

Sophie gave the man a smile and nod before walking away and whispering to Brooks that she was clear. 

Just then Wrex appeared at her side, a solemn look on his features.

But his eyes sharpened on Sophie’s indicating that something was up. Before she could voice her concerns to her krogan counterpart Brooks came through on her earpiece. 

“Ok, so now I think you just need to get to me. I’m on the other side of the security gate.”

“Right, have you bypassed the camera back there?” Sophie asked, making her way toward the back rooms of the casino. With Wrex at her side Sophie felt more confident despite the look of abject failure on her friend’s features. 

“Well, I got my side. Yours is still on though. We need to finish this before someone comes by.”

Sophie and Wrex rounded the corner together, her hand in his, as they pretended to look for a quiet corner.

It was one thing she loved about the krogan leader: the man was always up for a game, especially if it meant messing with everyone in the room.

“I can’t get the security gate to open from here. The junction must be on your side.”

Sophie spotted a shadow behind the eezo powered gate in the far corner of the room. Two guards were patrolling the small room between herself and the gate. Sophie frowned.

“It might be tricky, just so you know,” Brooks said unnecessarily.

“Have a little faith,” she retorted. All Sophie needed was a little bit of time and a very large krogan to keep the guards from catching on.

She sent Wrex to distract the guard passing by while Sophie quickly hacked into the camera that overlooked the junction. Then she quickly walked to the junction box and hacked into it as well, with a lot less difficulty than she’d expected. 

Once the hacks were complete Sophie waved Wrex over and the three of them quickly raced into the safe room.

She couldn’t be entirely sure that Khan was dead when they walked into the room, so instead of giving up the game, Sophie spoke to the body as if he were alive, just in case.

“Khan. I’m not here to threaten you. We need to talk.”

Wrex walked around the desk when the man didn’t respond and her stomach sunk into her feet as he turned the body around. Guessing and knowing that he was dead were two different things.

“What the hell?” Brooks muttered.

“I see this conversation will be strictly one-sided,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

She moved toward the terminal on the desk, but Brooks beat her to it and Sophie couldn’t stop her before the analyst began keying something into the keypad.

“Commander! There’s a deletion order on the terminal.”

“Damnit.”

“Everything’s been wiped. I don’t know if it was him, or the killer, or–” 

Brooks stepped away and Sophie took the woman’s place at the desk, looking over the running deletion program.

“Did I screw this up when I tripped the alarm?”

Sophie quickly maximized the program with the deletion order still running, wondering if Brooks herself had set off the order. With a few keystrokes she managed to prevent at least a few of the files from being deleted. 

“What are you looking for?” Brooks asked, a nervous flutter in her voice.

“Mistakes,” she said, turning to look at Brooks.

A chime went off in the terminal, turning her attention back.

“Thought so,” she said, glancing back at the error warning. “Whoever it was had to do this fast. They wiped the terminal but not the comm.”

She was really getting tired of all the lying. All Sophie really wanted to do was throw a couple of punches at the analyst and set Wrex on her. Sophie could feel Brooks pressing almost flush against Sophie’s back as the two women looked at the screen. In this position, Sophie couldn’t help but think how easy it would be for Brooks to activate an omni-blade and end her life.

“Oh,” Brooks said. “So we can take the comm back to the safe house to scan it, or…”

Sophie pressed the button to activate the file, knowing that such decryption processes would likely corrupt the files as soon as she removed it from the terminal. Brooks had made a mistake and she was going to take advantage of it.

The terminal over the fireplace kicked on, contacting the last person Khan has spoken to. The image was scrambled as if the camera had been damaged and the voice was cloaked, but Sophie had a fairly good idea of what she was looking at. What she didn’t know is how or why there was someone with her face on the monitor talking back to her.

Chapter 3

On the flight back to the apartment Sophie let silence settle into the shuttle that Joker had brought around. There was nothing she could say right now and there were plenty of contingency plans that needed to be thought up and put in place while they tried to figure out what to do next.

Brooks had lied point blank about tracing that call, that Sophie knew for sure. How else could emergency systems respond when a call was made and dropped, but Brooks couldn’t trace a call when they talked to the culprit for nearly three minutes? This wasn’t a movie where the plot depended on the hero not finding the villain until the last scene. Brooks had deliberately kept them from being able to track down the caller’s location. 

But it didn’t matter. Sophie had seen who the villain was and that imposter would pay. She’d looked in mirrors enough throughout her life to know that the person who bought the weapons had her face.

Leaning forward, with her elbow on her knee, Sophie chewed on her thumbnail while she tried to think. She needed to figure out how to deal with the situation without alerting Brooks. 

Her leg bounced up and down as her vision blurred. Sophie retreated into her thoughts. She couldn’t see all the strings in this web of lies, but the only people who’d have the money and resources to make a clone would have been Cerberus. If she could get to Miranda, find out if the ex-Cerberus member knew anything about this other person, maybe they could figure out a way to deal with it.

She’d wondered in the past about Cerberus’ lack of revenge after she left the Collector Base to be destroyed on the other side of the Omega 4 relay. There had been little to no communication with the Illusive Man after that, and she’d spent months helping Liara with the Shadow Broker. Then she’d dealt with Hackett’s mission that had led to her six month incarceration. In all that time, the Illusive Man hadn’t once bothered to contact her. Sophie should have known better.

A conversation she’d had with Miranda months ago came to mind. 

Miranda had said that she wanted to implant a control chip into Sophie’s brain during reconstruction. 

Sophie believed that Miranda had been truthful. The operative had worked on her body since day one, and so Miranda knew that she was the real thing; but what if somewhere along the line they’d been switched and the real Shepard really was on the other side of that monitor?

“You alright, Shepard?”

Sophie turned to look at Wrex, whose red eyes were watching her carefully.

She swallowed, clearing her throat, and tried to find something to say.

“It’s going to be a long night,” she said.

When they finally reached the apartment Sophie assigned EDI to help Brooks clear up the data that they did manage to find. 

She excused herself to her room, taking off the high heels she’d been wearing before climbing the steps, holding the straps in between her fingers, and telling her squad members that she needed to get comfortable; but it was not the comfort of a hoodie and sweatpants that she was looking for.

Walking into her bedroom, Sophie rubbed the back of her neck and dropped her shoes to the floor.

What she wanted was to talk through her thoughts with someone, have a warm body to curl up against and allow them to wrap their arms around her. She wanted to talk to someone who would reassure her that she was the real Sophie Amalia Shepard. Sophie wasn’t picky; she’d even take a volus at this point. The shock of seeing that clone on the other side of the screen left her cold.

Collapsing back onto her bed, Sophie stared up at the ceiling of the master suite, a million thoughts racing through her head.

A knock sounded on her door and Sophie bade whoever it was to enter, thinking maybe Liara had more news to report.

“Damn, Commander. You can’t even attend a party without someone ending up dead.”

Panic rose in her chest at James’ voice. She shot up, straightening her gown so she looked at least semi-professional.

“James!”

He seemed to sense her apprehension and took a step back toward the door, as if realizing that he’d intruded on a private moment.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said, a nervous flutter seeming to wash over his shoulders.

“It’s fine, James. I was just expecting Liara.”

“She sent me up here, if it’s any consolation.”

Sophie allowed the words to hang in the air for a moment.

“You’re always welcome,” she said, trying to give the young Lieutenant a smile. “You know my door’s always open.”

James nodded but remained silent for a moment.

“Liara’s helping EDI and Brooks with their mission.”

“Well come on in then,” she said, scooting over a few inches to give the lieutenant some space if he wished to sit on the bed beside her. “What’s up?”

“Liara told us about Brooks,” he said, sauntering over toward her. He couldn’t possibly know how attractive his gait was, but Sophie bit back the comment and managed to meet his eyes.

“Yes.”

“You’re sure about doing this then?”

“We need to figure out who she works for and what she wants. I figure the best way to do that is to let things play out. I trust the team is onboard.”

“Garrus is pretty miffed, and Tali says she knew something was up, but we’re all with you, Commander.”

Sophie nodded.

“Good. I’m glad.”

“Liara told us that Wrex knew as well,” he said, though the tone in his voice was nervous as if he were asking rather than commenting.

“He did, it’s why I brought him with me to the casino. At least he knew the score. I needed backup and a potential distraction. Wrex is good at that. I couldn’t be sure I would get the chance to bring my third on board with Brooks sniffing around.”

James nodded, though he looked away from her.

“I didn’t get the chance to tell you this earlier, with the mission and everything.”

Sophie frowned as he turned back to face her, trying to read what was going on in his mind.

“But you are breathtaking tonight.”

His words caused her to flush.

“I know it’s inappropriate of me to say things like that to my commanding officer, but I thought you’d like to know.”

James rubbed the palms of his hands over his lap as if he were nervous, his eyes having long since left her face.

He cleared his throat when she didn’t respond. 

Truth be told, Sophie couldn’t believe that he’d admit to thinking something like that about her. Their previous conversations were light and flirty, but this…this was something different.

James stood, the moment broken, and he crossed the room quickly toward the door.

“I just, I’ll let you do your thing. Liara said to head on down whenever you’re ready. She said she thought they were close to cracking the locks on the datapad when you came upstairs.”

“That quick?”

“We have some of the best tech specialists in the galaxy downstairs,” he said, flushing slightly.

“I’m going to get changed and I’ll be right down,” she said. “Would you mind getting my zipper started, Lieutenant?”

He nearly choked before gathering his wits.

“Sure, Commander,” he said after a moment, and Sophie smiled at him.

His fingers were warm through the velvet as he pulled the zipper halfway down her back and Sophie admired the professionalism of his actions. He didn’t try anything untoward though she knew it was cruel to tease.

A beat passed after she thanked him and Sophie could hear the door slide open as he tried to make his exit.

“Hey, Vega,” she called just before the door shut behind him, turning to face the doorway and holding the dress in place to cover all her feminine parts.

The young Lieutenant snapped his head around, his hand coming out to stop the door as he looked at her expectantly. 

“Thank you for the compliment,” she said, giving him a smile. “It’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a while.”

“Commander. Pardon the insubordination, but you know you kick ass. I just wanted you to know that we got your back and that it was a damn fine one at that.”

The door closed as Sophie burst out in laughter. The old James was back in action, though his previous very serious admission was still on her mind.

Ten minutes later, Sophie found herself headed back downstairs. She’d changed out of the formal gown and those god-forsaken tights and into some cargo pants and a plain t-shirt with Blasto’s image plastered on the front. She even took the time to pull her hair from the faux-hawk braid that Liara had pulled together and tied it back in an efficient bun. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but if they were headed out to chase down the clone, Sophie wanted to be ready to throw her armor on.

Wrex was standing just outside the door when she stepped out of the room.

“I managed to get Khan to hand over his backup disks before he died,” Wrex said, holding out a datachit. “I didn’t have any time to get him out of there before I heard Brooks stomping around in the airshaft.”

“Was she really that terrible?”

“You have to remember, Shepard, my hearing is probably three to four times better than your measly human hearing.”

“I had forgotten.”

“I could hear you flirting with your Lieutenant from the kitchen.”

Sophie balked at his words, feeling heat flood her face.

“Don’t worry, Shepard. I think he’s a fine specimen, if you’re into the big bulky types.”

Her eyes went wide.

“Which reminds me. How come you never responded to my mating request?”

“Your what!”

Wrex exploded with laughter.

“I was so disappointed when you never brought that up,” he snorted, the deep belly laugh rumbling through the bedroom. 

“That was you?”

“Like any of those whelps in my clan would have the quads to put in a mating request for you.”

“It was serious?” she asked, feeling her world tilting on its axis.

Wrex shrugged.

“I figured it could be if you wanted it to, but I mostly just wanted to see your face when you heard about the request.”

“But—”

“You were still in my camp,” he said, chuckling lightly. “I have enough cameras set up to be able to see every conversation that takes place.”

She glared at the krogan.

“The look on your face,” he trailed off, laughing to himself. “You looked like you’d eaten varren dung. You wanna see?” 

Wrex bent over his arm, keying some codes into his omnitool.

“No!” she nearly shouted, launching herself in his direction.

Wrex caught her in his arms, barely even teetering with the collision.

“You steal all the joy out of my life,” he grunted. “Come on then,” he said, looking around the room. “EDI and the traitor are waiting for you downstairs and they’re getting anxious.”

“Wrex, what about this data?”

“Give it to Alliance Command before we get going. If we fail, they need to know the truth.”

Sophie nodded.

“That’s a good idea. I’ll make sure to pass it along.”

“I’ve got a few friends headed for the Normandy,” he said. “I figured I’d call in a couple favors in case we need backup.”

“Alright,” she said, giving him a grin. “Let’s get going then.”

Sophie left the room with the chit in her pocket and headed down the stairs to meet up with the rest of her crew.

Chapter 4

Half an hour later Sophie found herself in a cab with Liara and Wrex. She’d put Garrus and Vega in charge of the two other groups as they sped toward the Citadel Archives. Garrus, of course, got the position because of the teams he’d led not only on his own team; but also for the fantastic job he’d done on the Collector Base. For James, though she knew she didn’t have to answer to anyone, Sophie wanted to give him a chance to lead a team that didn’t feel like he was being completely left on his own, but the man needed to get back out there again if he wanted to be an N7.

Before they’d split off, Sophie slipped Joker the chit that Wrex provided. She’d ushered everyone out of the apartment easily and asked him to get the data to Hackett ASAP.

“Tell the others to be on alert for anything out of the ordinary,” she said.

“Good luck,” Joker replied, snapping a salute in her direction.

Glancing around the area, noting that the others had headed down the hall, she took a moment and broke protocol, grabbing hold of his uniform and pulling him up beside her.

“There’s a Shepard clone out there,” she said. “Don’t let that bitch take my place.”

She let go of Joker’s uniform and raced down the hall to meet up with the rest of the squad, hoping that Brooks wouldn’t catch on.

Now she found herself trailing Wrex after Vega blew the hatch on the entrance to the tunnels. 

Crawling through the tunnels, eventually Liara announced that she found a spot where they could break into the actual offices of the archives.

Sophie dropped through first, stepping out into an office setting with Liara and Wrex right behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, Sophie saw Garrus leading his team out onto a catwalk nearby.

Before she could check in with James, a laser sight from a sniper rifle appeared on her chest.

“Not this again.”

Before anything else could happen, gunfire filled the room and her teams scattered and took cover.

The battle was quick and fierce for a few minutes as they took down one mercenary after another.

Then Sophie remembered Brooks.

“Brooks, where are you?”

“Upstairs,” she shouted.

Then the smoke cleared revealing Brooks being held prisoner, a gun to her head.

The person, the being with Sophie’s face that no one likely could get a clear look at, remained in shadow as she spoke, threatening to do harm to the lovely naïve analyst.

“—or this won’t go well for her.”

Sophie glanced around to see her teammates doing the right thing, putting their guns on the floor and raising their hands in the air.

Sophie found herself saying something she’d never expected herself to say

“Go ahead,” she growled out; her gun remained aimed at Brooks, calling out the clone on her bluff. Sophie knew Brooks was working with the clone; why not allow the clone to kill one of her own allies? It was a wretched move. The woman likely didn’t deserve to die. Not all Cerberus agents were evil, but Sophie’s mind was racing and quickly put together the plan.

She could hear the protests of her team members, even in the face of the knowledge that they had.

Instead of shooting Brooks dead, the clone shoved her to the ground and stepped out into the light.

“Disarm her,” the clone shouted.

A gun went off, shooting the pistol that Sophie had in her hand, shattering it and sending metal shrapnel through the room. 

She’d turned her head away from the explosion in her hand, but not fast enough. Her barriers hadn’t been prepared for the shot and Sophie quickly wiped her hand across the cheek that burned with the metal shards.

“Shepard!” someone shouted.

“I’m alright,” she said. “Don’t let her get away.”

The room was filled with gunfire once more as the clone must have taken off deeper within the archives.

Blood poured over her eyes as Sophie tried to clear her vision. 

Liara was by her side within seconds.

“I’ve got medigel,” she said, her hands cool against Sophie’s neck.

“The team?”

“They’re chasing after her. We need to get you bandaged up first.”

“Apply medigel and let’s get going. I won’t let them get away.”

A shotgun went off overhead and Sophie turned to see Wrex standing above her.

“Take a minute, Shepard. You aren’t a krogan.”

She nodded and turned her blurring gaze back toward Liara.

“Brooks is gone,” Garrus shouted.

“Team Mako is in pursuit of the clone,” came Vega’s voice through the comms.

“Help me up.”

“Shepard.”

“There’s no time,” she said, looking over at Liara. “The team needs my help.”

A voice, hauntingly familiar, broke through on the comms. 

“So you guessed my game, huh?”

Sophie cut her eyes over at Wrex, still standing above her like a shield.

“Of course, the Great Commander Shepard couldn’t just leave well enough alone.”

“What’s your game plan, clone?” she asked, nearly spitting in anger into her mic as Wrex helped her off the floor.

“My game plan?” the clone snorted. “I’m going to take over your life. You weren’t the only Shepard that Cerberus invested in. And I’m tired of being hooked up to a machine to be your spare parts factory.”

“If you’re really me, then we’re on the same team,” she said, trying to locate the heat sink from her damaged gun. They’d need all the ammo they could get.

Besides, the room was still a bit wonky and she needed a clear head to keep going.

“We were never on the same team,” the clone said. 

Sophie could hear feet pounding on the floor as the other her raced through corridors of the archives. 

“The Illusive Man abandoned me when he had what he wanted. You.”

“Then why try to kill us?”

Garrus’ voice cut through the Clone’s monologue as Sophie picked up a pistol off one of the dead mercenaries.

“Because I don’t have her memories. I’d never fool my supposed friends… the ones that abandoned their duty to join the Cult of Shepard.”

There was a pause as the clone stopped talking. Sophie nodded at Liara that she was feeling better and was ready to get going.

“Like you, Garrus Vakarian,” the clone continued as Sophie raced toward the door where the rest of the clone’s team had left from. “You’re nothing more than a burnt-out cop past his prime.”

“And you’re just a pale imitation of the real thing!”

Sophie entered a corridor with Wrex and Liara behind her and they ran as quickly as they could. The medigel still buzzed through her veins as they sprinted up the sloped hall and into the next room, filled with terminals and archives.

“I’m the real thing perfected. I’m Shepard without the wear and tear, the doubts, the failures. I’m the lone wolf you were always meant to be without the emotional baggage holding me back.”

“No one will ever believe you’re Shepard.”

“They will when I’m flying her ship.”

For a moment Sophie considered contacting the ship, warning them of what was to come, but they already knew at least some of what was going on. If Joker had arrived, then so too would any local Alliance members. 

“It’ll be a cold day in hell before someone steals my ship,” she said.

“It’s not stealing if I’m you. Execute them. The Cult of Shepard ends today.”

The line went dead.

Sophie turned a corner, headed for the next door and nearly tripped over her own feet as she came to a stop. A team of mercenaries stood near the doorway, guns pointed in her direction.

Liara grabbed her arm, wrenching her away from the fire fight.

Sophie flew through the air.

“Garrus, Vega, report,” she shouted as she crashed into a nearby table.

“Digging deep into the archives,” Garrus said. “I don’t know what she’s after, but the clone is moving fast.”

“Remind me not to get on Shepard’s bad side,” Ash said over the comms, sounding winded. “If this bitch is this fast, I’d hate to see our Sophie trying to beat us up.”

A spike of reassurance washed through Sophie as she heard Ash taunting the clone.

“Any word on Brooks?”

“She disappeared when the clone took off,” Vega said, “but we’re keeping our eyes open.”

“Liara, you have Glyph available?”

“Of course, Shepard.”

The VI appeared beside them as they huddled under cover.

“Glyph, find the other me and do not let her out of your sights. Don’t let her see you.”

“Yes, Commander,” it answered and then flew off; activating what looked to be a tactical cloak.

“You sure this is gonna work, Shepard?” Wrex asked.

“No clue, but we need to buy the other teams some time.”

They cleared the room within a few minutes, radio silence being the norm as the other teams chased after the clone and Brooks. 

Refilling her uniform pockets with the heat sinks that Wrex was quickly looting from the dead mercenaries, Sophie glanced around the office space for the next door they needed to get through.

A warning was announced by an automated voice that all visitors must have Council permission to enter the archives as Shepard walked through the room that they’d recently emptied of mercenaries.

She waved her omnitool over the door panel and the locks lifted, opening the door, and revealing a large warehouse filled with vaults the sizes of prefab housing in the colonies.

“Wow, that’s big,” Wrex said behind her.

“Shepard, what do you think your clone is looking for in here?” Tali asked over the radio.

“At this point, anything is possible.”

“You mean like strolling along and running into your clone.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Right, at least not until we’ve all had a stiff drink.”

“How are we going to find anything in this place?”

“I’ve got Glyph on it,” Sophie said. “Liara, can you track its location?”

“Heading… south, two pathways to our left.”

She made her way across the catwalk, her two companions at her five and seven. Sophie wasn’t sure where the others were, but she trusted that Garrus and Vega had things under control.

“The other Shepard’s still alive,” someone shouted from above. 

Sophie ducked behind a banister and her two teammates helped her take down the ambush.

“Shepard, if you move onto the platform we can get you to us,” Tali said. 

They climbed into a nearby vault as Tali had instructed.

“Shepard,” Liara said cutting through the small talk within the vault as they were being moved to a different section.

“Hmm?”

“Glyph should be about two hundred meters ahead of where they’ll drop us off.”

“Get ready to start shooting.”

They fought their way through the vaults. The mercenaries seemed to come out of the walls. Without impunity, Sophie killed the Cerberus-Not-Cerberus agents as they followed Liara’s tracking application that said the Clone was headed north; at least, north as the mapping system wase concerned.

Then Sophie found herself in the middle of a battle, her teams already facing off against a choke point. She raced ahead, cutting through the mercenaries that were blocking off her team’s advancement.

Sophie turned when she reached the ladder, guiding her shore party to take to the ladder and covering their advance.

“Move!” she shouted, taking a shot at one of the well-armed mercenaries.

Wrex and Liara climbed up the ladder and she continued shooting until her pistol was empty.

Without thought, she quickly popped a heat sink and slid a new one into place.

“This is Shepard,” she said, looking at the advancing men. “We need—“

Before she could continue, gunfire rained down from above her, quickly taking out the five or six advancing Cat-6 mercenaries.

Glancing up, through a clot of dried blood on her eyelashes, Sophie saw all nine of her team members shooting down on the remaining enemies.

She couldn’t believe that they’d all managed to meet up again, and that they were doing everything they could to get her to safety warmed her heart, though she had little time to think about it.

She climbed up the ladder, grateful to see that no one seemed to be injured.

“The… other me can’t be far. Keep up the pressure, and we’ll try to surround her. Let’s move.”

Tali hacked through a lock and opened a nearby door, revealing the inner workings of the archives, which included more offices where they had holograms of historic battles and incidents. 

Though they moved quickly through the corridors, Sophie couldn’t help but take a few moments to realize that they were likely in the epicenter of the archives, the place where the most confidential, most important moments of the galaxy were stored.

They found waves of mercenaries as they made their way through. She couldn’t help but realize it was a typical Cerberus fight. Cerberus always seemed to figure that if they threw enough bodies at the problem, it would go away; it seemed they never learned not to bother her squad. Sophie and her companions, her friends, her family would always win.

The radio this time was filled with chatter as they fought through the mercs.

“Right, Shepard,” Liara shouted, giving her directions on where to go.

She waved her way through another doorway and they raced down into another level, meeting up with another group of troopers. 

They worked through another set of offices, Sophie leading the way meticulously through, not wanting to leave any chances that they would be flanked by more of the clone’s team members.

Suddenly Glyph appeared at Sophie’s side, sprouting some sort of nonsense about thinking that the clone was her. 

She sent it back to find the clone and Liara and Wrex followed her through yet another corridor and into yet another vault warehouse.

“Atlas on the walkway.”

“Team Mako here. We’re on it.”

Sophie reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a couple of grenades. Activating three of them, she tossed them sequentially toward the atlas when it dropped to the ground floor from a catwalk. 

“Has anyone seen Brooks?” 

“We caught sight of her on the other side of the vaults,” Vega said. “She was taking potshots at us and hiding behind some of her armored companions.”

Sophie caught sight of a medigel container nearby and unlatched it, taking the vial and sticking it into the medigel receptacle of her armor. Though she really didn’t need any right now, they might need more if the fight lasted too much longer. At this point she wasn’t sure if any of her companions were injured.

Leading the way through another set of offices, Sophie could hear shouting and gunfire through the walls, though she didn’t see any more enemies.

“I’m running low on ammo, do we need to loot again?”

“Shepard.”

Sophie turned and almost missed the heatsink that Wrex had thrown her way as she tried to avoid it hitting her across the face.

“Thanks,” she said, popping the old heat sink and replacing it.

Sophie ran up another set of stairs. 

“Team Mako, we’re coming up behind. What’s your status?”

No response.

“Mako!” she shouted.

No response.

“Damnit.”

“Hammerhead?”

Again no response.

“How much you wanna bet they ran into Brooks?” Wrex said.

The door to the next archival room opened and revealed a hologram of her own Spectre files up on the terminal.

“This must be it,” she muttered, walking up to the terminal. “She needed my files.”

“Commander,” Brooks said over the comm.

Sophie glanced over at Liara.

“Please, the other Shepard is cutting off our radio signals.”

“Brooks.”

“Please,” she begged, from the other end. “The other you shot me. Why do you think I’m the bad guy?”

Sophie took off running. 

“Shepard.”

She turned to look at Wrex.

“You know this is a trap right?”

“Of course it is,” she said, running backwards. “But we’ve lost contact with the others. We need to get to her, like it or not.”

Wrex growled.

“Fine,” he said. “But can I be the one to shoot her when we decide she’s no longer worth listening to?

“Wrex!”

“I’m a krogan battlemaster, Liara. What did you expect?”

“We’ll be right there,” Sophie said, into her radio.

“Thank you,” the analyst whimpered. 

Brooks might be shot, she might be in pain, but Brooks would never be the innocent person she pretended to be.

When they finally tracked down Brooks, Sophie was livid. With no sign of her other team members, she’d been distracted and the analyst had caught them in the trap she’d sprung. They’d walked into a vault without knowing it and the clone had appeared just in time to lock them inside and send them to the archive containment area.

Liara and Wrex had been worried for a few moments while she stewed in her anger, but she’d called out to Glyph to get them released and soon enough they were on their way to the Normandy. 

Though her attempts to reach the ship failed, when the three of them finally reached the docking bay it was clear that her concerns were unnecessary.

Climbing from the autocab they’d ordered, Sophie glanced around the dock to see not only her ground squad, but Miranda, Zaeed, Grunt, and even Jacob keeping their sights pointed at Brooks and the clone.

“What’s going on here?” she asked, sauntering up to the showdown.

“Wrex sent for us when he grew concerned about your mission,” Miranda said, though she never removed her eyes from the two women.

“A clone? Really?” Jacob asked.

“You’ll have to ask the Illusive Man about it sometime,” she said.

“So, what do you want to do with this bint,” Zaeed asked, cocking his gun.

Sophie looked over at the two women. Now that they were in custody, she wasn’t sure. She’d wanted them both dead while they fought through the archives. The two women likely had untold amounts of intel on Cerberus, intel that could help them find the Illusive Man’s BoO.

“We need to turn them over to Alliance Command,” she said, glancing over at Ashley. 

“You sure about that, Commander?”

“We kill them now, and it will be murder. They’re already in custody.”

“Or are you scared of us,” Brooks shouted, turning her head and sneering. “Admit it; part of you liked the hero worship. Me looking up to the legend.”

“I knew you were a phony the minute you came running up to me with that faked panic in your voice. You could never be a true undercover operative. You gave up way too many tells.”

“I had you going for hours.”

“Even before you arrived at my apartment I had people looking into you and your history.”

“That’s a lie.”

“Did you forget the part where I’d already warned my team of a clone before you even lured us to the archives? You couldn’t even get aboard my ship.”

“Shut up,” the clone spat. 

“We will be back, you know,” Brooks said. “We’ll take everything you have. You and your little alien circle was a mistake. Cerberus was a pro-human group who started looking to aliens for help.”

“Working with aliens is exactly what has helped us get this far.”

“Not everyone agrees with that sentiment, Shepard,” Brooks said.

“Get them in cuffs,” Sophie ordered, growing tired of listening to the Cerberus operative’s conceited tone. 

She turned away, knowing one of her squadmates would take care of the duty. She also didn’t have any cuffs on her being. But then Sophie heard Ashley shout a profanity.

“Shit.”

Sophie turned back to see Brooks making a break for it. At the same time, the clone took off in the other direction.

Before she could pull her gun from its holster, two shots rang out in the air and the two assailants dropped to the ground, dead.

“I was really hoping I’d get to do that,” Ashley said, replacing her rifle on her holster.

Sophie looked around the group and spotted Javik with his gun in his hand.

“Problem solved.”

She sighed, having hoped to at least get some intel out of the two former Cerberus members.

“I suppose you’re right,” she said.

The sounds of engines filled the air and Sophie turned to see a handful of C-Sec shuttles coming her way.

“Make sure they’re dead,” she said. “The last thing we need is for them to be faking at this point.”

“Of course, Commander.”

“I read no life signs from either assailant, Shepard,” EDI announced.

When the shuttles landed at the base of the dock, Sophie walked over to greet the officers.

“Commander Bailey, I wasn’t expecting to see you out here. I thought for sure that you’d have Council issues to be working with.”

“I got a call from your pilot a bit ago, said you had some difficulties with your Spectre authorization. I figured I’d bring a portable unit over so we could get things straightened out.”

One of the officers ambled over with a portable terminal, just a bit larger than a standard datapad.

“What happened down there?” he asked, pointing at the two dead bodies.

“We apprehended a few rogue Cerberus operatives. When we attempted to turn them in, they tried to flee. I’m sorry if we created more paperwork for you, Commander.”

“It’s alright,” Bailey said, waving away her concerns. “We’ve got a few rookies after the Citadel attack prompted a rash of volunteers. We can have a few of them work on the paperwork as training.”

The older C-Sec officer laughed. 

“Thanks, Commander.”

“Thank you, Shepard. You’re doing great work out there.”

Sophie nodded and walked back to where her teams were waiting.

“So, after a long day of fighting an evil clone, you know what’s next?” Joker asked, looking around the docks.

“A nap?”

“Please. We party down.”

“A party?”

“No pressure, no one’s going to make you throw a party,”

Sophie cast her eyes around the dock, looking at her teammates but feeling utterly exhausted.

“How about we get some sleep first?”

“Then party?”

“Then party. We’ve got some work to do and the Normandy still needs to finish repairs and maintenance.”

“Yes.” Grunt grinned, clapping his hands together and bouncing a bit.

“Everyone’s invited,” she said. “But I need some time to get this paperwork done.”

A handful of the group nodded, Zaeed began to walk away, and Miranda glanced up at the ship.

“Let us know when you’re ready,” she said, turning back to Sophie.

“Sure.”

“Anyone want a ride back to the hotel?”

Joker lead the way to the autocab terminal with a handful of the squad members. Sophie leaned against a banister that kept the tool cabinets from falling to the levels below.

“Everything alright, Commander?”

Sophie glanced over her shoulder to see James walking toward her.

“It’s just been a long day. I can’t imagine how many reports will need to be filed to Alliance Command. How would one even go about reporting the death of her own clone?”

James snorted with laughter.

“I’m glad I’m not the one in charge.”

“About that,” he started, looking a bit flushed as he glanced around the docks. “I want to commend you on your restraint. I would have shot them both if that had been me. I can’t imagine what you must have told yourself to keep from shooting Brooks.”

“I wanted their intel,” she shrugged. “But we’ll find out where the Illusive Man is without them.”

Silence settled between them for a moment.

“Would you like me to escort you back to your apartment?”

Sophie turned, frowning at Vega.

“What?” she asked, unsure she’d understood the question.

“You’re practically dead on your feet,” he said, a light chuckle tingeing his voice. “I figured I could make sure you got home safe and sound before heading back to my cot to sleep.”

Sophie nodded. 

“Alright.”

James held out his hand for her to take and pulled her away from the banister with ease.

Within a few minutes, Sophie had joined James in a summoned cab and he jumped into the driver’s seat.

“Should I really trust you to drive me anywhere, Vega?”

“I’ll only crash it if Cerberus gets involved. Promise,” he said, glancing over and grinning at her.

Sophie leaned her head back against the frame of the cab, closing her eyes. 

“Commander?”

A brush of warmth on her cheek roused Sophie and her vision swam as she tried to get her bearings, cursing the fact that she must have passed out. 

“Vega?” she asked, reaching up and rubbing her right temple.

“You fell asleep,” he said, his voice low and quiet.

“Damn,” she muttered. “Sorry.”

“No problem, Commander.”

James cleared his throat. 

“We’re back at your apartment, at least as close as I could get with the cab.”

“Thanks, Vega,” she said, smiling at him while she slid over to the door.

“I was gonna try to let you sleep, but the cab fare is mounting and I didn’t want you to punch me if you woke up in my arms when I carried you to the door.”

The lascivious grin he gave her made Sophie roll her eyes.

“Probably a safe bet,” she said. “I can’t even remember the last time I fell asleep like that. You might have lost an arm.”

Sophie took his hand as he helped her out of the cab and allowed him to pull her up to standing.

“Thank you very much,” she said. “It’s pretty clear that I wouldn’t have made it back on my own without a massive cab fare.”

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you in and then head back to the ship.”

“Make sure you expense that cab bill,” she said, a smile on her lips.

Sophie led the way down the hall from the entrance of the apartment complex. The walk was silent but not uncomfortable, though she was a little nervous about the fact that she’d fallen asleep so easily. Perhaps she needed to take a bit more time to get rest.

Within a few minutes Sophie had opened up the apartment and let herself inside.

“Thanks for the escort, Vega,” she said. “I’d invite you to stay in one of the other bedrooms but I wouldn’t want to seem inappropriate.”

He gave a small frown before rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s not a problem,” he said, looking past her shoulder into the over-large apartment behind her. “Besides, I’ve got things to do before the party. Lemme know if you need any help with the preparations.”

“I will. Stay safe.”

Chapter 5

Two days later, Sophie woke up alone in her bed. She could hear the sounds of her friends as they began to wake up and recover from the long night of partying that had taken place before. 

The party had gone on long into the morning, though the music quieted down eventually. She did know that the drinking and the partying had continued well into the morning hours when she finally gave up and called it a night and left the rest of them to do whatever they wanted to do. 

She’d stayed sober, wanting to ensure that the rest of her team members enjoyed their shore leave. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them to be able to take care of themselves; but better that she was the responsible one should something happen.

The last thing she remembered before going up to bed was Grunt singing to himself in the shower and passing Vega and Ash talking on the couches near the master bedroom. 

James had gone so far as to wink at Sophie while he’d been talking to the second human Spectre. 

Sophie cringed at the frisson of jealousy that had formed. If they weren’t commander and subordinate, Sophie was positive that the Lieutenant would have made a move by now. Instead, she flirted relentlessly, pretending it was all a game rather than the heart break that she put herself through every time she let that man walk away from her without telling him how she felt.

Stretching her arm across the pillow, Sophie hit the dimmer switch near the spot where traditionally a nightstand would have been. 

The LED lights along the wall warmed up and cast a glow through the room. 

The master bedroom was a little bit messier than she remembered, Sophie thought, sitting up and looking about. It seemed like at least a few of the partygoers had found their way into her room at some point. 

There were empty beer bottles near the closet and a chair had been tipped over.

Nearby, on the high quality laminate floor, was a data pad that she didn’t quite remember having in the room.

Leaning over the edge of the bed, Sophie used the tips of her fingers to pull it closer and managed to grab hold of the plastic frame without dropping it.

Pressing the power button, the small screen flipped on and she saw a short list of files.

Frowning, not recognizing any of the file names, she queued up the first one.

“Shepard.”

Her stomach lurched at the familiar voice. 

“Hope you’re well. Knew things on Tuchanka could end things. Made preparations.”

Sophie glanced at the door, afraid that she might be interrupted, and at the same time hoping someone came in to stop her from doing what she knew she was about to do.

“Asked friends with STG to leave this with you next time you were off-duty.”

Swallowing the lump already forming in her throat, Sophie tried to remember being stopped or confronted by any other salarians.

“Some of my older work: performances, stories. Merely entertainment. But entertainment useful at times. Good luck.”

The file ended.

Even with nearly twenty people downstairs, she couldn’t help but press the button for the next sound file. 

She must be insane, Sophie thought. She knew she wouldn’t be able to hold it together, but the chance to hear her friend’s voice again urged her to continue. Sophie knew that she’d do the same thing if she had a recording of Thane’s voice or Kaidan’s or any of the other team members she’d lost.

Tuchanka had been months ago. So much had happened to the crew since they’d cured the genophage. Once the repairs on the Normandy were complete, Sophie needed to chase down the Leviathan and attempt to get its support in the final battle.

Even though Sophie knew she could always listen to the files later, properly mourn Mordin at another time, she tapped the screen and opened the next file.

Immediately the room filled with his singing. She listened quietly to the first clip, a song he used to mutter in the science lab on the SR-2, then a file of him singing on a children’s show he’d done. 

By the time she finished listening to the final file tears were streaming down her cheeks as she stared at the datapad, dimmed after it had been sitting idle for long enough.

It was like saying goodbye all over again to her favorite salarian. She’d loved that man like an annoying older brother, if she’d had anything to compare it to.

Nearly a year since the Omega 4 jump and she still couldn’t believe that he’d misinterpreted her lack of romantic partners into a desire for his sexual company. All she’d wanted was to have someone to talk to her about successful missions that night, to bolster her confidence before the suicide mission. She’d explained properly after he embarrassingly said he would have been interested in her if his tastes ran to humans. 

After they shared an awkward laugh, Sophie had convinced Mordin to join her in her cabin while they watched Blasto and swapped war stories. It had been a great way to spend the evening and she’d taken it for granted that the salarian would continue on with the SR-2 crew afterwards. Of course she’d had to deal with Aratoht after that and many of the Cerberus crew dispersed when she turned herself in, but she hadn’t expected to lose contact with him for six months after the fact.

Her hands shook and Sophie placed the datapad on the comforter, not wanting to risk damage to the compilation that he’d so lovingly prepared for her. The fact that he’d felt he wouldn’t come back from Tuchanka only reiterated how much Mordin cared about the cause and wished to make up for his failings.

A knock sounded on the door and Sophie quickly wiped away the evidence of her mourning.

“Lola?”

Panic rose in her chest. The last thing she needed was for Vega to see her completely out of sorts. 

This wasn’t anything that a Junior Officer needed to see of their CO. 

She coughed her throat clear and wiped her face again, hoping that she didn’t look like the train wreck she felt she was.

“Come on in, Vega,” she said, pulling the blanket back over her lap, hoping she looked like she’d just woken up rather than the crying mess that she was. There was no way for her to be able to turn him away if he needed something.

The pocket door slid back into the wall revealing a tray of food carried by her Lieutenant.

“No one heard you walking around, but I didn’t want you to miss breakfast.”

She waved him in, unwilling to trust her voice.

The lights came on and the door slid shut as he made his way into the room, balancing the tray in one hand.

“Everything alright?” he asked, coming to a stop near the foot of the bed.

“Of course,” she said, sitting up a little more and leaning against the headboard, crossing her legs under the blanket to steady herself a bit.

He eyed her suspiciously.

“Lola.”

The warning was clear in his voice.

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “It’s just been a long few days.”

James sat down close to her knees. He placed the tray of food on the other side of his lap, the scent of eggs and peppers and sausage wafting through the room.

“You didn’t seem to be enjoying yourself last night.”

Sophie shrugged.

“It was enough for me that everyone else got one night to relax.”

“I know I’m just a grunt,” he said. “But if you need to talk, I’m here.”

He placed a concerned hand on her knee over the blanket and Sophie glanced up into his eyes.

If felt almost like the night months ago when he’d come to check on her during her incarceration. The same protective aura blanketed around him.

“It’s not your job to listen to me whine,” she said, giving him a weak smile.

“No, but I’d like to think we’re friends at this point at least. We’ve been through a lot since the Reapers arrived. I’d like to think you trust me enough to confide in me if you are having problems.”

“It’s not that, James,” she said, with a sigh. She didn’t want to burden him with the problems she faced, nor did she want to somehow keep him from taking on the challenge of leadership. He would be an amazing leader one of these days. Sometime after she was gone.

Like Mordin knowing his job on Tuchanka, Sophie knew that this mission would likely end with her death.

“Don’t look at me like that, Lola,” James said, his features softening as she turned her attention back to the present. “You look like you’re giving up.”

“Not giving up, James,” she said, trying to smile at him. “I’m just contemplating the price of war.”

She watched as he reached up and cupped her cheek in his palm. The warmth from his hand spread through her body as she closed her eyes, reveling in the care and admiration that he had for her.

“We all know it’s inevitable,” she said, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could stop them.

He was silent and Sophie grew concerned, but she kept her eyes closed. She could never tell him just how much his friendship meant, how much she wished for more; but she could at least enjoy the moment while it lasted.

The bed shifted and Sophie’s eyes snapped open when she felt James’ lips brush against hers. 

He must have sensed her hesitation, must have felt her attempt to pull away in reaction to what he’d done.

James opened his eyes. Sophie couldn’t pinpoint what was going on in his head, but she knew that she’d probably hurt his feelings.

“James, I--,” she started.

“No, don’t say it,” he said, the heart-wrenching tone in his voice spoke volumes as he averted his eyes in shame.

Then, before she could change her mind, before she could change her course of action, Sophie leaned forward. Her hand reached up to stop him from moving away and her lips pressed against his.

All at once, James’ hands were on her body, her blanket falling away, revealing her night clothes. His hands were everywhere at once, gripping her hips, brushing against the underside of her breasts, pulling her flush against him.

Sophie wrapped her arms around Vega’s neck, pressing herself against him and James growled lowly at the back of his throat.

“Lola.”

Though she knew she should stop his advances, knew that it would change everything about their relationship thus far, Sophie couldn’t help but melt into his arms. 

James laid her down while his hands snaked under her clothing and explored the hidden skin.

She allowed it, how could she not? When she’d been silently begging James to make a move for months.

He kissed her neck and pulled her close, exploring her soft parts, sometimes teasing a scar or two that had formed on her new skin in the months since she’d been woken up.

Sophie let herself go, let her thoughts slip out of her mind as James attended to her needs.

He was caring and considerate, making sure she was satisfied before worrying about himself.

The moment was magical as he caressed all the right spots and made fireworks explode in her mind. 

When it was all over, Sophie found herself lying in bed struggling to catch her breath while staring at the ceiling with James’ arm wrapped around her waist. His nose was snuggled into the crook of her neck, breathing her in as their racing heartbeats slowed back to normal.

“We’re going to have to clean up breakfast,” she said, suddenly remembering the tray of food they’d knocked over.

“I’ll take care of it in a few minutes,” he whispered, his lips brushing against her damp skin.

She smiled, relishing the fact that he wanted to cuddle.

This could never happen again.

The thought pierced her brain like a dagger and Sophie stiffened, suddenly remembering the reason why they’d not made a move before.

James must have noticed the change in her demeanor because his arm slid from her waist and he pulled away a few inches.

“What is it?”

Sophie stared at the ceiling, not willing yet to break the afterglow.

“Sophie?”

She took a breath, gathering her courage, knowing she couldn’t run away.

“What we just did,” she said, hearing her own voice begin to shake. “James, it was amazing.”

“But?”

“I’m still your Commanding Officer.”

Tears rose in her eyes, blurring her vision. 

“I understand,” James said, pulling away so that he was no longer touching her.

“Wait,” she said, reaching for his hand.

“No, you’re right, Commander.”

The use of her title rather than the nickname pierced her heart.

“You listen to me, Lieutenant,” she said, sharply changing her tone.

He balked, looking at her sheepishly as if he didn’t want to obey her command.

“This war will not last forever; you have plans to join N7 school. One day we will no longer be Commander and Officer. At that point, if you’re still interested, we can try this out again. I would love to be with you properly, I would love to shout off of the Alliance Towers that we’re together; but I will not be the reason why your abilities are put into question.”

“But,” he interrupted.

“James, I will not put your career on the line. You have worked too hard, and you’re too good of a solider for the Alliance to lose you. I’m not saying we can’t eventually do this again, and you have to believe me when I say that this was the best I’ve felt for as long as I can remember. But we both have jobs and we need to do them.”

“You’re right,” he groused, looking around the room as if he needed to find his pants.

“They’re over here,” she said, pointing to the floor nearby.

He gave her a shy smile, looking over his shoulder as he climbed off the bed.

There was silence between them with a hint of an awkward air.

“James,” she said, reaching out for his hand and a thousand times grateful that he let her take it.

“I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful that was for me, how long I’ve been waiting for you to damn the consequences and come to me. I know that wasn’t your intent when you brought up breakfast, but it happened. I want you to know that even if you change your mind, I will never regret it.”

A small smile formed on his lips and Sophie continued. 

“You think I would change my mind? You’ve been in my dreams, in my thoughts, since I watched you gain your Spectre status on the extranet. I’ve worshipped you—“

Sophie reached up. Instead of allowing her to pressing a finger to his lips, James knelt down by the side of the bed putting them on eye level.

“I know,” she said, giving him a smile. “And you’ve been doing a great job.”

James chuckled as he searched her eyes.

“We just need to get to the end of this war, alright?”

He nodded.

“If this was a one-time thing, I would have never allowed you more than the kiss.”

His words from his trip to her quarters echoed in her head and Sophie couldn’t stop herself from repeating them to him.

“When I commit to something, I commit to it. Fully.”

“Does that mean that you’re committing to me?” 

He wrapped his arms around her waist, scooting her forward by a few inches and spreading her legs enough so that his chest could fit between her knees.

“That means, if we both still want this,” she said, waving her hand, “let’s just get through the next couple months. The Crucible will be finished soon and we will destroy these bastard Reapers. Once that’s done, I’m sure someone will ask me to retire or become the ambassador, depending on how well we do, and then I won’t be your CO anymore.”

“You really think they’d do that?” he asked, his thumb tracing shapes on the small of her back.

“I’ll either become a war hero, more than I already am, or I’ll become a martyr. It’s the only way this can end for me.”

James frowned.

“It’s the truth,” she said, matter-of-factly. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, what might happen after all of this is done. It’s taken up much of my life. Hell, it even killed me once, it might do so again.”

James looked at her, the crestfallen features breaking her heart.

“Maybe not the best thing to joke about, Sophie,” he said.

“You’re right,” she said. “But it could happen.”

“It won’t,” he protested. “You’ve got the best soldiers in the Alliance on your side, along with the craziest group of aliens that may ever have existed. They will do everything in their power to make sure you get out of this alive.”

Sophie reached out, running her fingers over his bare chest.

“Perhaps you’re right,” she said. 

James clasped her hand into his own.

“If you really want us to continue toeing the line, you need to stop doing that.”

Sophie grinned.

“You’re right,” she said, pulling her hand away.

“At least I know how you feel about me now,” he said, the relief on his face visible.

“I want you to know, if you decide you don’t want to wait, if you find someone else that you’d rather—“ 

Sophie paused, feeling her throat tighten with just the thought that he’d turn to someone else in the meantime.

She coughed.

“Just tell me, please. I don’t intend to keep you leashed in the meantime. In fact, if you want to date someone else—“

“Stop,” James said, his voice firm.

Sophie looked over at his brown eyes.

“I only want you, Sophie,” he said, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against hers. “If that means we wait, I’m fine with that, but don’t ever think that me going to someone else is a possibility. I might be young and a jarhead, but I know what I want.”

She took a deep breath.

“So no, I won’t be dating any women on the side. I will be waiting patiently for our time to come while I have your six in battle. Don’t you forget that.”

The conviction in James’ voice was enough to bring tears to her eyes.

“Don’t cry, Lola,” he begged.

Sophie swallowed, blinking quickly in an attempt to get rid of the water in her eyes.

He reached up, cupping her cheek in his palm and wiping away the one tear that had escaped.

James pressed a kiss to her lips, reassuring her of his intentions.

“Okay,” he said, pulling away breathlessly a few moments later. “I’m going now.”

She nodded.

“You might need your shirt first,” she said, glancing at his body as he lifted himself back up from the floor.

James chuckled. 

“You may be right.”

He finished dressing and Sophie pulled the blanket around her as she got off the bed.

“Let me help you,” he said, kneeling beside her as she scooped up eggs and tomatoes and peppers back onto the plate.

“I don’t guess the others will keep quiet about this?”

“If we throw the food away we might be able to convince them that I just kept you company,” he said, a flush coloring his cheeks.

She looked at him carefully, noting that he could likely see straight down the gap in her blanket to see everything again and yet he was being polite and keeping his eyes on her.

“Fuck it,” she shrugged, “let them talk. I’m hungry.”

James let out a full belly laugh at her sudden use of profanity.

A few minutes later Sophie walked out of the master bedroom, dressed in a fresh uniform and her hair pinned up into a twist.

She looked like the consummate officer and leader of the war effort again, despite the fact that she’d just slept with a junior soldier.

James had gone downstairs after she’d shooed him out and she was pleased to see a couple of plates of food waiting at the kitchen counter.

“Lieutenant Vega was just telling us about how you managed to spill your breakfast all over yourself this morning,” Garrus said.

Sophie looked at the gathered soldiers and felt a flutter of panic in her chest, wondering what all the Lieutenant had actually said.

“Yes, well, being woken up with breakfast in bed is usually a good idea,” James said, quickly. “But I should have asked permission before I put the tray over her legs. Who’d have known that the Commander was so skittish?”

“She certainly can’t dance,” Garrus interjected.

“What would you know about it? Turian dancing looks like a bird’s mating display.”

Garrus snorted in laughter and Sophie slid onto the stool in front of one of the plates of food.

And suddenly everything was back to normal. 

Sophie glanced up at James, who smirked in her direction.


End file.
